Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Eskom must renegotiate its contract with mining giant BHP Billiton, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) said on Wednesday.

"The imperialist companies BHP Billiton and Anglo American signed clandestine deals with Eskom in the past decade, guaranteeing the two imperialist owned companies the supply of cheap electricity at a price of 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for most of the lifespan of aluminium smelters built on the basis of the contracts," Numsa said in a statement.

It said the "clandestine" deal was nothing less than stealing from the poor to benefit the rich.

Numsa demanded that Eskom unwind its agreement with BHP Billiton "in the interests of the workers and the poor" and that the parastatal halt its tariff hikes.

The Democratic Alliance said earlier on Wednesday in a statement that it had in its possession a confidential Eskom report.

The report showed that Motraco, a Mozambican electricity distribution company, had been paying 12 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity which was "far below cost".

The report said Motraco was the fifth largest electricity user in South Africa, taking 3.7 percent of all electricity generated in the country.

"Motraco supplies 95 percent of its electricity to Mozal Aluminium Smelter in Mozambique and Mozal in turn is a subsidiary of BHP Billiton," the DA said.

It said BHP Billiton was Eskom's second largest buyer of electricity for its Hillside and Bayside smelters in Richards Bay, which consumed 5.6 percent of the total electricity in South Africa.

"In other words, BHP Billiton, directly and through its subsidiaries, takes up 9.3 percent of all electricity generated by Eskom -- making it the single biggest user of electricity in South Africa."

According to reports, Eskom was currently renegotiating its contract with BHP Billiton which was expected to be concluded before May 27. - Sapa

Anonymous added the comment:"Remember, the real enemy is Big Capitalism, who use white africans as the scapegoat while milking the continent! "

....Which, I have to disagree with, actually: when companies cosy up to government and get 'special deals', it's not Capitalism, it's Corporatism.